The New Freedom Fighter
by Magnus Andersson
Summary: In this story, Tails is fed up about being treated as a child. However, Knothole is struck by disaster, and Tails is the only hope for survival of the freedom fighters...


"The new Freedom Fighter", written by Magnus Andersson.  
If you want to send some comments or questions to me, my e-mail address   
is "armadillosega@hotmail.com".  
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/8867  
  
This story was the first Sonic story I ever wrote and published online  
(I wrote this story in December 1995 and published it for the first time in 1996).  
I was 17 years old back then, when I wrote the story. Today I'm 23, and if I had  
written the story today, the story would probably had been way different to what  
it was back in 1997. In any case, I hope you'll enjoy it... ;)  
  
All characters are copyright by SEGA and DiC.  
This story is protected by copyright laws. You may distribute this story all over   
the world, but I do not allow any unauthorized alteration or distribution for   
profit, moneys and so on...  
  
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TIMELINE: March 3235  
----------------------  
  
It was an normal day in Knothole Village. It was morning. Sonic got out of his bed  
and walked out of his hut. He streched and walked over to Tails´ hut. He knocked on  
the door but there was no reply. He went to Sally´s hut. She was still sleeping so  
he decided to not enter. But where could Tails be?  
He walked out into the Great Forest, but couldn´t find him. He was nervous at this  
point. Then he decided to search for him by the power ring pool, and there he was,  
sitting alone on a log. Sonic sat down beside him.  
"What are you doing here alone?"  
"It´s a shame you found me. Actually I want to be alone. Please go."  
"Tails, what´s wrong? Are you depressed? Bored? Have any pain?"  
"Bored. Simply bored. Nothing happens here. Absolutely nothing. Something is missing.  
We haven´t heard anything from Robotnik for a very long time. And everybody treats   
me like a little child. ´Little bro´, ´little pal´ and so on. I hate to be called   
´big guy´! You don´t mean it! Can´t you realize that I´m growing up? I´m not a kid!   
Sally doesn´t understand me, you don´t, and...nobody understands me!"  
There was a silence.  
"But you´re only ten years old..."  
"What do you mean with ´only´?"  
"We care about you!"  
"When I want to leave the village, I always must ask for permission. That´s ridiculous!   
You are not my parents!" he said angrily.  
"How about a race between us. I´ll give you a headstart."  
"Yeah, very funny. You always win. And giving me a headstart is only cheating. Not fun   
at all."  
"What about a game?"  
"Yeah, VERY funny indeed!"  
"Well, what about a swim race? I think you´re a better swimmer than me!"  
"EXCELLENT! Great idea! A piece of cake. I challenge you!"  
"Then, let´s go to the western pool. It´s a very good pool for swimmers! Come on,   
little bro!"  
"SONIC! I didn´t hear that!"  
"Whoops...I´m so sorry!"  
They walked away to the western pool. The pool was not too far away from Knothole,  
only about three miles from the village. Sonic and Tails jumped into the water.  
"Ahh..it´s lovely," Tails said. "Almost as warm as our secret place."  
"Maybe, but that´s not big enough for a swimming race! Are you ready?"  
"You got it, Sonic!"  
"On your marks, get set....GO!"  
Tails opened up with a big lead over Sonic. Tails was much faster than him.  
"Ok, ok, I give up! You win," Sonic panted.  
"YES! My first victory ever without headstart", Tails yelled with a big smile.   
Sonic smiled too. He was happy for Tails' sake. "Nothing could go wrong now!" he   
thought. Just then something grabbed his legs under the water.  
"TAILS! HELP ME! I´M CAPTURED BY SOMETHING UNDER THE WATER! HELP ME!"  
"SONIC!"  
Tails swam as fast as he could, but when was just 20 feet away from him, Sonic   
vanished under the water. Tails held his breath and dived. Tails wasn´t used to   
swimming under water. He could hardly see anything, but he saw a blue silhouette   
much further down. Then he was forced to get some new air. He decided to swim up   
to the surface. Then he held his breath once again, but this time, he couldn´t see   
Sonic. He was gone.  
Tails swam up to the surface again. He couldn´t believe it. But then he heard the   
sound of a beam. The sound came from Knothole Village. He got up of the water and   
ran back to the village as fast as he could.  
He found the village in ruins.  
  
Tails just stood as paralyzed for some seconds, but then he rushed into Sally´s hut   
without knocking on the door. He got a shock. Sally lay on the floor. Her body was   
covered with blood. Tails screamed out his fear. "This is just a nightmare! It must   
be!" he screamed. He walked over to Sally´s body. Fortunately she wasn´t dead. She   
was still breathing.  
"Sally! Wake up! Sally!"  
"Tails..." she said with a voice that was almost unhearable. "Robotnik returned...must  
save us...first aid...Sonic..."  
"He is dead," Tails cried.  
"Over...all over...Knuckles...find Knuckles...last hope...."  
Then she fainted.  
"Sally! Oh, no!" He ran out of the hut, and ran into the other huts. He found all the   
others in the village in their huts. Everybody was alive but they were all dying,   
just like Sally. What could he do? He ran to the airplane at the south side of Great   
Forest. He jumped into the plane, but couldn´t start it.  
"Shit! Nothing works in the future," he shouted. He had only one chance left: To fly   
to the Floating island with his tails.  
He flew as fast as he could, but there was contrary wind, so it took 1 1/2 hour to   
fly with the tails. With the airplane it would only have taken 20 or 30 minutes. He   
landed in Mushroom Valley, and found Knuckles, climbing a high wall.  
"Knuckles! Get down immediately! Disaster!"  
"Hi Tails! Wait, I can´t hear you. Coming down...WAH! I lost my grip!   
Aaaahhh...ouch, my head!"  
"Knuckles! You got to come with me to Knothole!" he screamed.  
"Calm down, little bro! What´s the matter?"  
"SONIC IS DEAD!"  
"No...NO!....NOOOO! It´s not true!"  
"IT IS! And Knothole Village is in ruins! Everybody are dying! Get all the first aid   
you have. Sally told me that you know how to do it."  
"OK..." He tried to recover from the shock. "No panic! Start the airplane. I´m coming!"  
"The airplane doesn´t work. I flew with my tails!"  
"Oh, great! Then we really have to hurry up!"  
  
Since they got following wind on the way back, it took "just" an hour.  
They ran into Sally´s hut. They thought she was most the important to save. Knuckles   
began to give first aid, by putting bandages on her wounds. He also put her into   
semi-prone position.  
"Now listen to me, Tails," Knuckles said. "Go get some water for Sally, and then stay   
here until I come back. In the meantime, I´ll take care of the others. Hurry!"  
  
An hour later, Knuckles was finished with everybody. He walked into Sally´s hut.  
"Anything...?"  
"No, still unconscious. How are the others?"  
"I think they will survive. Rotor is really badly hurt, but he will survive. I´m more   
worried for...Sally."  
"She must not die!"  
"No...I know. But now I´ve done what I could."  
Then Sally woke up.  
"Tails...Knuckles...how´s...others...."  
"They will survive," Tails said. "You´re the most severly hurt."  
"Where...Sonic?"  
"Dead...and it´s my fault. I killed him!"  
"Bullshit!" Knuckles shouted. "It wasn´t your fault. You couldn´t have known!"  
"Escape...too late for us...save yourself...that´s an order..."  
Then she fainted again.  
  
Tails and Knuckles walked out.  
"I´ll bet twenty chili dogs that this is Robotnik's work," Knuckles said.  
"Yeah, Sally said that earlier. What are we supposed to do now?"  
"Some days ago, I saw the Death Egg flying over the Floating island. Did anyone here   
see it?"  
"No, I don´t think so. I didn´t know anything about it."  
"Well, Robotnik IS back. We've got to go back to the Floating island, and see if we can   
find the Death Egg. If we can find it, we can find Robotnik, and then he will suffer for   
what he has done to the village...and Sonic."  
"We've got to? What do you mean? Somebody must stay here and help..."  
"NO!" Knuckles objected. "We both have to go to the Floating island! We´re stronger   
together. There is nothing we can do here! If we beat Robotnik, I think he can help   
us save everybody in the village."  
"HEY! I don't think so!"  
"Tails, you´re stupid. You´re nothing but an naive kid!"  
"Don´t you start too, Knuckles! Everybody treats me like a child!"  
"And do you want to know why? ´Cause you are! You´re nothing but a green kid!"  
"Green? I´m orange!"  
"Yeah, you´re not like an apple, that´s for sure! I meant anyway that you´re naive, not   
the colour of your body! Well, stay here if you wish. But if you want to avenge Sonic´s   
death, you should come with me!"  
Tails thought for a moment. He realized that Knuckles was right.  
"You´re right! I´ll come with you!"  
  
Tails and Knuckles went to the airplane and started to repair it. Two hours later,   
it was working again.  
"Nice job, pard!" Knuckles said.  
"No sweat..." Tails replied.  
They flew away to the Floating island.  
"OK, here´s my idea," Knuckles said on the way. "When we find the Death Egg, we   
follow it until it lands. Then we search for the entrance and then we´ll go into   
the Egg, face Robotnik, get some help with the village and then kill him. Easy as pie!"  
"It is easier said than done! This is gonna be difficult!"  
"Maybe, but we gotta do it. And remember, if we success, you´ll become a hero! You   
will impress Sally and you´ll probably be a...freedom fighter!  
"Freedom fighter? Did you say that?"  
"I said that!"  
"Wonderful! What are we waiting for? This is my big chance. From now on, they will stop   
treating me like a child! FASTER!"  
"You´re a child and you´ll always be one," Knuckles thought. But he didn´t say it.  
  
25 minutes later, they were on the Floating island. There was no sign of the Death Egg.   
They landed and stepped out of the plane.  
"What a pity! I didn´t see it," Knuckles said.  
"Neither did I. Same luck!" Tails mumbled.  
"I don´t think we can do anything more today, Tails. It´s getting dark. Night is   
coming. It's half past six..."  
"Yeah, we'd better get some sleep. But I don´t think I can sleep tonight. I will   
just have nightmares...Where is your hut?"  
"I don´t have any. I always sleep under a mushroom. It´s very good if it starts to   
rain. Do you wanna have a chili dog, before going to sleep?"  
"Nah...not hungry. But...OK, thanks."  
  
Tails didn´t get much sleep that night. He was right. He was haunted by nightmares.   
He saw Sonic´s drowned body, the corpse of Sally, pools of blood, and so on.   
Knuckles got a tough night to calm Tails down. But he understood him.  
  
When they woke up the next morning, Tails felt sick. Knuckles thought that he just   
was shaken by what had happened the day before. This was after all a very   
sentimental fox with feelings that were easy to hurt. Nothing special happened that   
day, not until the afternoon at least. Tails noticed something gray in the sky.  
"Look, Knuckles! The Death Egg!" he yelled.  
Knuckles looked up in the sky. Tails was right. It was the Death Egg. "Great!   
I´ll just pack my stuff, then we´ll teach him a lesson he won´t forget!"  
Knuckles started to pack his stuff. It was two walkie-talkies, two "normal" rings,   
a shield and two pairs of power sneakers. They were now ready to fight Robotnik   
and, this time, without mercy. One of them should not survive this time. This was   
the final battle.  
  
They flew up in the airplane and began to follow the Death Egg. The Egg wasn´t   
moving particularly fast, so keeping it in sight was no problem. After half an hour's   
chase, the Egg landed in the Sky Sanctuary Zone. Landing the plane there was pretty   
difficult, but after three attempts, Tails succeeded.  
They stepped out of the plane and walked slowly and carefully to the egg.  
"Be careful, Tails! This could be dangerous!" Knuckles whispered. "Here, take this   
walkie-talkie, this ring and these power sneakers. But I wonder if I should give you   
the shield..."  
"We´ll take care of that later. Let´s go!"  
They approched the Death Egg. Fifteen minutes later, they were at the bottom of the   
Egg. Knuckles was quite suprised that no robots had attacked them on the way. It   
could be some kind of a trap. It couldn´t be as easy as they maybe thought.  
"Can you find any entrance here, Tails?"  
"No, I can´t. Oh, wait a minute. There!"  
He pointed up to a door. It was about 100 yards up on the egg.  
"Yeah, it´s an entrance. But it will be difficult to reach it. It´s too steep for me   
to climb up, bud."  
"You forgot my tails!"  
"Oh, of course. What are we waiting for?"  
Tails mumbled the Lord´s prayer and then he grabbed Knuckles´ arms. They flew up to   
the door. There was a small platform there, so they landed. Knuckles rushed towards   
the door and destroyed it with his knuckles. They entered.   
They were very surprised as they entered. There was no welcome committee!  
They shuddered. Something was wrong.  
"I think it´s a trap," Tails said.  
"Yeah, I think so too. But we can´t go back. We must take the chance."  
They began to climb up in the Egg. They knew that Dr. Robotniks´ control panel was   
somewhere at the top of the egg. Just then Knuckles noticed a camera. It started to   
follow them.  
"Smile!" he said. Tails didn´t. "I think we are in trouble" Tails said. He was   
right. Six SWAT-bots armed with laser rifles attacked.  
"NO MERCY!" Knuckles shouted. "Let´s fight!"  
The battle began. Knuckles managed to destroy two robots in one spin, but Tails   
had some trouble. He was stuck in a corner and couldn´t escape. Two robots aimed   
for Tails, but just when they were going to shoot, Knuckles destroyed them from   
the backside. Two robots left. Tails rushed against one of them and jumped on his   
head. The robot exploded. Knuckles destroyed the last.  
"I´m dissapointed over your effort, Tails! You could've done it much better! I said   
NO MERCY! Didn´t you hear that?"  
"Hey, are you trying to provoke me?"  
"No, I just wanted to ask the question. Somehow, I expected more from you."  
"I haven´t warmed up yet, I think..."  
"Well, then you did now. This is only the beginning. You´re unhurted after all."  
  
They kept walking up in the egg. Suddenly a wall came up from the floor. When they   
tried to turn back, another wall came up from the floor. They were trapped. Then   
the floor shook. The floor started to move to the right. Under the floor was a   
pool with poison. It was cooking.  
"Shit! Were in trouble" Knuckles said.  
"We are doomed!" Tails cried.  
"Cool it! Robotnik is stupid. You can fly, and I can climb the wall. No problem!"  
"Oh, I forgot."  
Knuckles climbed up the wall, and Tails started to fly.  
"We are really lucky. I didn´t bring my bathing trunks with me," Tails barked.  
"You don´t have any at all!"  
They both laughed. The floor moved back to the left again. Tails and Knuckles got   
down on the floor. The walls disappeared.  
"We did it! Let´s go!" Knuckles said.  
They continued. Nothing special happened on their way up. They only met standard   
robots, minor traps, nothing special. After walking half an hour's walk Tails said:  
"We should be at the top quite soon. Sure, we had some trouble with the SWAT-bots   
and with the moving floor, but it seems still to be to easy."  
"It´s not over yet. I think that we will reach Robotnik soon. I think he saved the   
robots. He will release them in the control room."  
"Are you sure?"  
"I can never be sure, it´s only a guess."  
Then two walls came up from the floor again. They sighed.  
"He is really filled with ideas," they both said at the same time.  
But this time, the floor didn´t shake. There came sleeping gas this time.  
"Tails..."  
"Knuck...."  
They fell asleep.  
  
"Wake up, Tails! Wake up!"  
"Unngghh...oh, where am I? Am I still alive?"  
"Yes...yes, you are. It´s me, Sonic!"  
"SONIC?" Tails opened his eyes. It was right. It was Sonic.  
"SONIC! YOU´RE ALIVE! he said and gave him a hug. He started to cry.   
"It´s ok, it´s ok, little bro...er...Tails."  
"I thought you were dead!"  
"No. Two arms from a submarine captured me, but I was just under the water for a few   
seconds. The submarine was filled with robots. Since I didn´t have any rings or a   
shield, I couldn´t fight them. They forced me to surrender. And then they brought me   
here."  
"Thank God! Wait! Where are we?"  
"We are prisoners in the Egg now. We are on the top of it."  
"What will happen now?"  
"I don´t know, pal. I simply don´t know. But...how can you be here? Sally wouldn´t   
let you come on this mission."  
"Sonic..." He sighed. "Knothole Village is in ruins and everybody is dying, including   
Sally."  
"S-say what?"  
"It´s true. It happend while we were swimming. Knuckles is here somewhere in the Egg,   
I guess. I came with him here."  
"Did you just leave them to die? How could you?" he shouted.  
"Sonic, we gave them first aid, and Knuckles think that they all will survive without   
our help. We couldn´t do anything else anyway. Knuckles thought that Robotnik could   
help us, if we managed to beat him."  
"But what about Sally?"  
"She is the most badly hurt of them all. She will maybe...not survive."  
"NO! She must not die!"  
"She won´t. I know that, somehow...Are you disappointed with me?"  
"No, I think you did your best, big guy."  
"Sonic! You didn´t mean that! You didn´t mean that I´m a big guy. You treat me like a   
child again!"  
"Sorry, I forgot. You should have some sleep now. It´s late. My wrist watch is gone,   
but I guess it's about ten in the evening.  
"It´s half past eleven!"  
Dr. Robotnik stood in the cell door.  
"Don´t try to attack me, he said. Then you´re history. My robots are well armed as   
you can see." He had ten SWAT-bots behind him.  
"Sonic is right, Tails. You should have some sleep. You've had a tough day and you   
have tomorrow to look forward to, too. This time, nothing will stop me!"  
"What will happen to us? Where is Knuckles?" Sonic shouted.  
"Oh, you sure would like to know that, wouldn't you? I will not tell you that yet.   
But I will tomorrow. Sleep well! HA HA HA!"  
Robotnik and the SWAT-bots walked away.  
"If we get out of this alive, I´m gonna kill him!" Tails mumbled.  
"That´s good, little...er...Tails. We must keep the mood up!"  
  
The next morning, Sonic and Tails were awaken up by two SWAT-bots.  
"Come with us! Robotnik is waiting for you!" one robot said.  
"I don´t think we have any choice, Tails..."  
The robots chained them and they were led up to the control room. Robotnik was sitting   
on his chair by the panel. Then they saw Knuckles. He was in a cage.  
"Knuckles! Are you allright?" Tails asked.  
"It could be worse...but much better! I´ll survive!"  
"SILENCE! Robotnik shouted. "I believe you wonder what my plan is."  
"You bet, Robuttnik!"  
"Hmm...well, do you remember the robotizicer you destoyed three month ago?"  
"Of course! We blew it up! It was pretty close..."  
"Fine! This time I built a new one and I will transform one of you!"  
Sonic and Tails stared at each other.  
"NO! Don´t do it, Robotnik, please!" Tails pleaded.  
"No mercy..." He looked at Knuckles. "HA! You didn´t show any mercy, so why should   
I? Now Sonic, get over here. Say goodbye to your life as you know it!"  
"NNOOOOO!" Tails yelled. "YOU CAN´T DO IT! What will you transform him into?"  
"Do you remember Mecha Sonic?"  
"Yes, we do," Sonic replied.  
"You made a good job when you beat him last time, but you´ll pay for it. You will   
be the next Mecha Sonic. You will help me to destroy Mobius. And if anyone manages   
to beat you...you die. So I will win, regardless of what you do. This time I can´t   
lose!"  
"You can maybe robotizice his body, but not his soul," Tails objected.  
"WRONG! I can change his soul too! Allright SWAT-bots, put him into the robotizicer!"  
"SONIC!" Tails tried to escape, but failed.  
"TAILS!"  
"I´m in a good mood today," Robotnik said. "I´ll let you watch him, while he is   
transformed."  
Tails were pushed away to the robotizicer.  
"All systems ready," a voice said. "Transforming start...counting down.  
...10...9...8...7...6...5..."  
Tails looked right into Sonic´s eyes. This was the last look of Sonic, forever...  
"4...3...2...1...START!"  
The robotizicer started to robotizice Sonic. Tails started to cry.  
"Did I hurt your feelings, fox?"  
Tails didn´t reply.  
"You´re young and you´re a worthy foe. You´re free to go."  
"Free to go? What do you mean? You´re bluffing!"  
"No, and I will also release Knuckles. That´ll be my mercy. I have no use of you.   
You can´t stop me now anyway. If you kill Sonic...er...Mecha Sonic, you also kill   
Sonic. But I´ll give you a bonus chance. If you will join me, we can rule Mobius   
together."  
"Eat shit and die!" Tails shouted.  
"Very well. Robots! Release Knuckles and show them out."  
"Transformation ready. Standby." the voice said.  
"Oh, my robot is ready. Look at it!"  
Mecha Sonic walked slowly out of the robotizicer.  
"Must...terminate...Robotnik, soverign ruler...terminate, terminate...Knothole...  
Mobius, terminate..."  
"Mmm, very good!"  
"I DON`T BELIEVE IT!" Tails shouted. "Is that Sonic?"  
"It WAS. But now you´ve seen enough. Take them out."  
"I´ll get you for this!" Knuckles shouted.  
  
Tails and Knuckles were shown out to the entrance were they came in. The robots   
removed the chains. Tails grabbed Knuckles´ arms and flew down.  
"We failed," Knuckles said. "We didn't lose anything, but we didn't win anything   
either. Sonic would be a robot even if we wouldn´t have tried."  
"We lost everything! Mobius is doomed to die!"  
Knuckles sighed. Maybe he was right.  
"Let´s go back to Knothole."  
  
They flew away to Knothole. They arrived there 1 1/2 hour later. They saw Bunnie   
outside Sally´s hut.  
"Bunnie! How are you?" Tails shouted.  
"I´m OK. I just hurt my right arm, and became unconscious by the sound. I didn´t get   
any wounds, and that´s a miracle. Where have you been?"  
"I´ll tell you later. How are the others?"  
"Well, Rotor got a very big concussion, Antoine is complaining over some pain in   
his back...and..."  
"...Sally?"  
Bunnie nodded.  
"She´s very ill. She...come on in!"  
They all walked into Sally´s hut.  
"You did a great job, Tails. I didn´t know you could give first aid so well."  
Knuckles gave a slight cough.  
"Well, honestly, Knuckles did it."  
"Oh, then, well done, Knuckles! Very impressive!"  
Knuckles smiled. "I did my best," he replied.  
Sally woke up again.  
"Bunnie...it hurts, my left leg, thigh...where is Sonic?"  
"Transformed into a robot," Knuckles replied.  
"NOO! SONIC! You´re lying!" Bunnie screamed.  
"It´s true. We saw it with our own eyes. He is the next Mecha Sonic. The problem   
is that we can´t stop him. If we destroy the robot, we kill Sonic too. We can´t do it!"  
"Did you hear, Sally?" Bunnie asked.  
"I heard. I don´t think I will survive..."  
"You are not dying! I will not allow you to die!" Tails said.  
Knuckles walked over to Bunnie.  
"He is naive, but he is right." They both smiled vaguely. Tails didn´t notice it.  
"Everybody else is awake," Bunnie said. We must have a meeting in my hut. Tails,   
you stay here. Since Sonic is a robot, and Sally is hurt, I´ll be your leader from   
now on..."  
Tails mouth hung open. Bunnie and Knuckles walked out of the hut.  
"Always! Always! I´m just a child! I can do nothing! I´m nothing but a kid. I JUST   
HATE IT!" Tails thought. He sighed. "I´ll never grow up and I´ll never become   
a freedom fighter...never..."  
  
Knuckles and Bunnie opened the meeting. Knuckles informed Antoine and Rotor of   
what had happened to Sonic and of the failed mission.  
"We've got to do something," Bunnie said. "Robotnik knows the location of our   
village, and Sally is dying. She is in real danger. We've got to escape. We   
can´t stay here."  
"Leave Knothole?" Antoine asked. "Impossible. We can run, but we can´t hide!"  
"Do you have a better suggestion?" Rotor asked.  
"Hmm...no..."  
"Then shut up!"  
"Anyway, when we have escaped, Tails will take care of Sally. We will go to the   
Death Egg to find out if there´s something we can do to turn Mecha Sonic back to   
normal again. We can´t kill him as we do with normal robots. When we know how to do   
it, we´ll turn him back to normal. Then we'll save Sally, move back to Knothole and   
rebuild the village."  
"Good, I was afraid zis was going to be easy," Antoine said.  
"Please, Antoine! Sally is not here, so don´t play tough!" Rotor said.  
Antoine said nothing. The meeting was over. Bunnie walked over to Sally´s hut.  
"Tails, we must escape from the village. We have to. We will take Sally with us and   
then we´ll try to hide her somewhere in the Great Forest."  
"Are we just going to leave her alone?"  
"Of course not. You will stay with her until we come back. We will go to the Death   
Egg to find out if Sonic can be transformed back to normal again. We will give you   
a walkie-talkie, so you can contact us, if anything should go wrong."  
"So all I have to do is to stay in the forest and take care of Sally?"  
"Yes, this mission is too dangerous for you."  
"Yeah, I bet...but the last mission with Knuckles...I survived that!"  
"Yes, but you were almost killed. Knuckles told me about what happend in the first   
fight with the SWAT-bots."  
Tails sighed deeply. "Great! I´m a kid" he thought.  
  
Everybody started to pack their things and, two hours later, the village was empty.   
Bunnie and Knuckles carried Sally and the others carried all the other stuff. They   
walked away to a cavern, which was about five miles from village. It was pretty   
dark inside. Tails took up a pillow and a blanket and placed them on the ground.   
Bunnie and Knuckles put Sally down in her new "bed".  
"It´s not good, but it will do for now," Knuckles said. "Here, Tails. Take this bag.   
It contains first aid stuff. There are instructions inside. I think you´ll have to   
live on vegetarian food from now on. That´s no problem, just look at me."  
"OK," he replied without listening.  
"We will start our mission tomorrow. It´s getting dark," Bunnie said.  
Sally was awake, so she heard everything.  
"Success, Freedom fighters, and return in glory!"  
"WE WILL!" everybody said except Tails. He felt alone. He said nothing that night.  
  
The next morning everybody was awaken by a loud "BANG". It came from Knothole   
Village.   
They realized that it was Mecha Sonic.  
"We escaped just in time," Rotor said.  
"We sure did. We'd better go. Are you ready?"  
"YES!"  
Then Antoine walked over to Tails.  
"If you wish, you can take my place. I can stay here wiz Sally..."  
"In your dreams," Tails replied with a big smile.  
"Yeah, don´t try anything, Antoine," Knuckles said. "It's safer to let Robotnik   
guard her!"  
"Very funny!" He took a short look at Sally. She was sleeping. He sighed. "Allright,   
let´s go..."  
"BYE, TAILS!" everybody shouted.  
"Bye...have a wonderful life. I won´t..."  
  
Two days passed. Tails did his job, but he didn´t like it. Sally was recovering very   
well. She was going to survive. Tails felt a little proud over himself, but he was   
feeling very alone. The last day, he went to Knothole village. It was not there.   
It was gone. "Mecha Sonic," he thought. "Why? Why?" Then he got an idea. Everybody   
treated him like a child, so if he did something brave on his own, he would be the   
real "big guy". He was going to face Robotnik alone. He remembered so well when he   
had stood by the glass tube of the robotizicer. There were two buttons on the   
robotizicer. On one of them, it said "Derobotizize. Emergency only." If he could   
fool Mecha Sonic into that robotizicer, he could maybe turn Sonic back to normal   
again. But that would be both dangerous and difficult. Robotnik might not be there,   
and fooling Mecha Sonic was going to be difficult. But why not? If he succeeded, he   
could also change the coordinates of Knothole, and set them to the place, where the   
Death Egg was. If Robotnik should launch a bomb, it would hit the Death Egg instead.   
It could destroy it, if the bomb was powerful enough. If he succeeded, all his problems   
would be gone. Tails looked at Sally. She was awake.  
"How are you feeling now?" he asked.  
"Much better. Almost good." They both smiled. "But I wish Sonic was here...I miss him."  
Tails looked suspicious on Sally. What did she actually mean with that? But he missed   
him too after all.  
"He will come back...I know." he said.  
"Are you OK, little bud?" she asked. "You look very meditative."  
"Don´t call me...I was just thinking..."  
"About what? "  
"Nothing special. The future..."  
Just then Knuckles, Bunnie, Rotor and Antoine came into the cavern.  
"Hi guys and girl. How did it...?"  
"Failure! He didn´t even found the egg!"  
"You searched for it for two days and you didn´t find it. Freedom fighters. BAH!   
Freedom losers!"  
"OH! I presume you can do it better!" Knuckles shouted.  
"Yes, I can!" Tails replied.  
"HA! Well, go ahead!"  
"I beg your pardon?"  
"Go ahead!"  
"Hey, thanks a lot!"  
Tails started to walk out of the cavern.  
"Wa-wa-wait, where do you think you´re going?" Knuckles asked.  
Bunnie, Rotor and Antoine were behind him.  
"You told me to go ahead. Now I´m going to do it!"  
"Wha-what do you mean? You´re not going to face Robotnik alone...are you?"  
"Why not? You told me to try."  
"Tails, I wasn´t serious!"  
"Maybe not, but I am!" He started to fly.  
"TAILS!" Bunnie shouted. "Get down immediately! That´s an order!"  
"I don´t take any orders from you! Goodbye!"  
"TAAAILLS! COME BAACK!"  
But Tails ignored that. He flew away.  
"Now it´s between you and me," he thought.  
He flew away to Sky Sanctuary Zone. The Death Egg wasn´t there.  
He decided to get down to the ground of Mobius. He was pretty tired. Just as he   
landed, he saw the egg. "Now it´s between you and me," he thought again. "Nothing will   
stop me."  
  
He flew up to the door, where he entered last time. There was no welcome committee   
this time either, but that was just as well. He chose to take another route this time.   
He found a spiral staircase. He started to climb it. Soon he was at the top of the egg.   
"And we didn´t take this way the last time. Incredible!" he thought. When he came to   
the top of the staircase, he found a locked door. He couldn´t open it, so he decided   
to make a spin dash. He succeeded. The door flew open. This room was the ante room to   
the control room. There was another door. He opened it carefully. He saw the control   
room.  
"Yes! Here it is!" he thought. Robotnik was sitting at the controls and Mecha Sonic   
stood by the wall.  
"You´ve done a great job, Mecha Sonic!" Robotnik said. "Knothole Village is destroyed   
and there is no sign of any other freedom fighters! We've won the war!"  
"In you face, sucker!" Tails thought.  
"I must celebrate with a Coca-cola."  
Then he walked into the room where Tails stood. Tails quickly hid himself behind the   
door. Robotnik saw the broken door. He understood nothing.  
"What´s going on?" he asked. He rushed down the staircase. Tails rushed into the   
control room.  
"HEY! Mecha Sonic! Here I am!"  
"Incoming enemy...terminate, terminate" the robot said. He rushed towards Tails,   
but Tails jumped over him. Tails rushed to the robotizicer, trying to fool Mecha   
Sonic inside. Mecha Sonic made a new attack. Tails tried to jump over but failed   
this time. Mecha Sonic gave him a hard push. He flew into the robotizicer´s chair.   
Then Robotnik returned!  
"OH WELL, WELL, WELL! What have we here?"  
Tails was just going to run up from the chair, but Robotnik pressed a button. The   
glass tube to the robotizicer closed. Tails was trapped inside.  
"You made a big mistake, fox! Attacking me, alone, will never work! Now you´ll be   
my next robot." Two robotarms grabbed Tails in the chamber. They put him into the chair.   
The belts locked his arms and legs.  
"All systems ready. Transforming start...counting down. 10...9...8...7...6...5...  
"NOOO! I DON´T WANT TO BE A ROBOT!" he screamed with fear.  
"4...3...2...1...START!"  
The robotizicer began to transform Tails into a robot. Some minutes later, the   
transforming was done.  
"Transformation ready. Standby."  
Mecha Tails (We'll call him that from now on) walked out of the chamber. He was a   
robot, and he still had the shape of a fox, just as Sonic retained his hedgehog   
shape. But the robotizicer didn´t work as it should this time. Tails´ soul was   
not robotiziced. Tails had still his old feelings left, and he still hated Robotnik.   
He just had some problem with his voice.  
"Terminate, terminate...must...kill...Robotnik!"  
"WHAT?" Robotnik shouted. You´re on my side!  
"In your...face...suck...er" Mecha Tails said.  
"Mecha Sonic! Attack Mecha Tails!"   
But Mecha Sonic didn´t understand. Mecha Tails was like a friend to him, so he   
couldn´t attack. Mecha Tails pressed Robotnik into a corner. He stroke him in the face,   
and then he used his tails like whips. Robotnik fell down, unconscious.  
Mecha Tails walked over to the control panel and changed the coordinates. Then he walked   
over to Mecha Sonic.  
"Enter..." he said.  
Mecha Sonic walked slowly into the chair. Mecha Tails pressed the derobotizize button.  
"Derobotizicer transforming start." the voice said. It worked! Five minutes later,   
Sonic stepped out of the chamber. He was not unconscious, but very dizzy. Then he saw   
Mecha Tails.  
"Help..me..Sonic" he said. "It´s...me...help me..."  
"Tails? Is that you?" Sonic said.  
"Help me..."  
"Get in the chamber, little bro!"  
"Don´t....call..."  
He stepped inside. Soon was normal too. He stepped out.  
"Sonic! You´re normal again!"  
"And so are you! Come on, let´s get out of here."  
"Follow me, I know the way out" Tails barked.  
They ran out of the room, down the staircase and out of the door. In the meantime   
Robotnik woke up.  
"I´m not giving up so easy!" He rushed to the control and launched a bomb towards   
Sonic and Tails. But when the bomb was launched, it returned to the Death Egg.   
Tails grabbed Sonics arm, and they flew away. Seconds later, the Death Egg exploded.  
  
"We did it!" Tails screamed, as they flew back.  
"No, you did it! You saved my life! From now on, you´re a hero!" Sonic said.  
"Let´s go back to the others!"  
  
Two hours later, they landed at the entrance of the cavern. There was nobody outside.   
They slipped inside. They saw the others, sitting together.  
"It´s incredible!" Knuckles said. "Knothole village is gone, Sonic is transformed, and   
Tails is probably dead!"   
Sonic and Tails smiled.  
"I don´t understand why he did it. He was just a child!" Bunnie cried.  
"It was a stupid move," Antoine said. "He just wanted to be touz!"  
"Yeah, he was a very naive fox, but he was kind...He always cared more about us than   
himself..." Rotor said.  
A tear fell from Tails´ cheek.  
"My mother should hear this" he thought.  
"Shall we?" Sonic asked.  
"I don´t know..." Tails replied. "Niao, why not?"  
"HI EVERYBODY!" they shouted together.  
"You´re back! YOU ARE BACK!"  
"Yes we are, thanks to Tails!"  
"Are you alright? What happend?"  
For the next two hours, Tails told them what had happened. He ended his speech by   
saying:  
"I suggest that we go back to Knothole. Let´s rebuild our village!"  
"YES!"  
  
One week later, the village was rebuilt. Sally was totally recovered. She took off   
the last bandages. Everybody wanted to throw a party for Tails, their new hero.   
Two days later, Tails found a piece of paper on the floor in his hut.  
  
Tails!  
Come over to Rotor´s workshop at eight o´clock tonight. I want to have a private talk   
with you.  
  
Sonic  
  
Tails walked over to the workshop at eight. When he opened the door, everything was black.  
"Heeellooo?" he said. "Anybody here?"  
"OUR HERO!" The light came on.  
"OOH, you guys!"  
The party lasted for hours. They danced, ate chili dogs, laughed and so on.  
Towards the end of the party, Sonic said:  
"Well, Tails! First of all, I want to thank you for saving my life. Perhaps you even   
saved Mobius! To show our gratitude for you, we want to give you this medal."  
He put the medal around Tails´ neck. It was a yellow medal. There were some words on it:  
TAILS, OUR LITTLE HERO!  
Tails´ smile almost vanished. But he did his best to keep it up.  
"We also wrote a song for you, Tails. Sally, Bunnie and I will sing. Knuckles plays   
the drums, Antoine plays the synth and Rotor plays the electric guitar.  
Ready?"  
"READY!"  
  
(The lyrics of this song are taken from the intro of Sonic CD. The text is written   
by me./Rubens)  
  
10-10 You do everything can  
9-9 Everything will be fine  
8-8 Go find a mate  
7-7 Great job in cavern  
6-5 In adventures dive  
4-3 As anyone can see  
2-1 You can run to sun  
So let´s go - Little bro  
Get the ring - And let´s sing  
Follow me - Safe you´ll be  
To success - He´s our little key  
Make a spin - And you´ll win  
Little pal - He saved ´Sal  
Our little friend - Fight to the end  
Knothole Village  
No problem to deafend  
Toot Toot Miles Tails Prower - Toot Toot Miles Tails Prower  
You are just simply a child,  
But you are great and wild  
Look at the tails - They are fast  
Swing ´em around - You´ll never gonna be the last  
Toot Toot Miles Tails Prower - Toot Toot Miles Tails Prower  
Transforming can never you stop  
´Cause you´re boss on the top  
Toot Toot Miles Tails Prower - our little bro  
Toot Toot Miles Tails Prower - his speed is never slow  
He is the big guy, the only that can fly,  
He is the best, when you put him on the test  
Toot Toot Miles Tails Prower - He is an awesome fox  
Toot Toot Miles Tails Prower - Robuttnik´s ear he box  
He is the big guy, the only that can fly,  
He is the best, when you put him on the test.  
  
Tails said nothing. But then he took off his medal and tossed it as hard as he could on   
the ground. It broke into smithereens.  
"KEEP YOUR STUPID MEDAL! I DON´T WANT IT!" he shouted. He ran out, and ran to his hut,   
crying. He locked his door and got up in his bed. He buried his face in his pillow.  
  
"What...what was wrong?" Antoine asked. "Why did he do zis?"  
Sonic thought for a short while.  
"I think I know..."  
"Yeah, so do I", Sally said. "I´ll go talk with him."  
  
"Always a kid! Always a child! I saved Sonic, I saved Mobius, but I´m still a child!   
And they just gave me a stupid medal!" he thought. "I´ll never become a Freedom   
Fighter. NEVER!"  
Then, there was a knock on his door. He ignored it. Someone knocked again.  
"Go away..." he said.  
"Tails, open up now!" Sally said.  
"Why? You just treat me like a child. You understand nothing! Absolutely nothing!"   
he cried.  
"Tails...I understand you are sorry, but...a freedom fighter...well, I don´t know."   
she said. "I´m impressed" she continued "And I´m going to remember this. If you keep   
it up for a year or two, you´ll be a freedom fighter. Deal?"   
"OK...But that´s a long time. I deserve to be a freedom fighter already. I saved your   
and Sonic´s life!"  
"I know..."  
"But OK, it´s a deal."  
"Thank you. Now open up. Now we must celebrate our new hero!"  
"Tomorrow, Sal. I´m too tired. Nighty-night!  
"Nighty-night, big guy!"  
"SSSSSAAAAAALLLLLYYYYY!"  
Deep inside he understood it was a joke. Just one year left...  
  
THE END  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
OK, don´t tell me, there IS a time fault in this story. Sonic showed Tails their   
secret place just before doomsday!  
  
I know that. According to DiC it happend then, so that´s true. And it happend in   
the same show when Tails became a freedom fighter. Let´s say this is my version of it.   
I showed much respect for the shows after all. This story was unfortuantely written   
before I saw that cartoon show. In my original story, Tails became a freedom fighter   
here, but when I saw the show, (It happend today, 11th December 1995, on TCC channel)   
I decided to change the story. As you could read in the end, he becamed a freedom   
fighter later, but not for a year as Sally said in my story so I guess he managed to   
keep it up for that time as Sally wanted. But let´s say that Sonic showed the secret   
place in any other way earlier...I hope it´s OK.../Magnus Andersson-95/96. 


End file.
